Red Mecca

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Red Mecca
Studio album by Cabaret Voltaire
Released	September 1981
Recorded	Western Works, Sheffield, May 1981
Genre	Post-punk, Industrial
Label	Rough Trade
Producer	Cabaret Voltaire
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link RateYourMusic link
Cabaret Voltaire chronology
Three Mantras (1980) Red Mecca (1981) 2X45 (1982)

Red Mecca is an album by the Industrial/Post-punk band Cabaret Voltaire. Released in 1981 on Rough Trade Records (ROUGH 27), it was their final album before the departure of Chris Watson. It reached No.1 on the UK Independent chart in September 1981^[1]

Contents 1 Background 2 Track listing 2.1 Side A 2.2 Side B 3 Recording details 4 References

[edit] Background

In November 1979 Cabaret Voltaire toured the United States, and became strongly interested in the rise of the Christian right and its use of television, especially the fund-raising broadcasts of TV evangelist Eugene Scott. They compared this to the rise of Islamism, devoting a side to each strand of religious politics on their 1980 mini-album Three Mantras. Red Mecca was a culmination of this interest. According to Richard H Kirk: "The whole Afghanistan situation was kicking off, Iran had the American hostages...we were taking notice...it's not called that [Red Mecca] by coincidence. We weren't referencing the fucking Mecca Ballroom in Nottingham!"^[2]

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side A

1. "A Touch of Evil" - 3:11
2. "Sly Doubt" - 4:59
3. "Landslide" - 2:08
4. "A Thousand Ways" - 10:35

[edit] Side B

1. "Red Mask" - 6:54
2. "Split Second Feeling" - 3:47
3. "Black Mask" - 3:19
4. "Spread the Virus" - 3:40
5. "A Touch of Evil (Reprise)" - 1:32

[edit] Recording details

Recorded at Western Works, Sheffield, May 1981.

• Stephen Mallinder: vocals, bass guitar, bongos.
• Richard H. Kirk: guitar strings, clarinet, horns.
• Chris Watson: Vox Continental organ, tape recorder
• Nik Allday - drums

Produced by Cabaret Voltaire. All Tracks composed by Kirk/Mallinder/Watson, except "A Touch of Evil" by Henry Mancini, arr. Cabaret Voltaire.

"A Touch of Evil" was originally composed to soundtrack Orson Welles's film of the same name.

[edit] References

1. ^ Lazell, Barry. Indie Hits 1980-1989 (Cherry Red books, 1997), p.311
2. ^ Reynolds, S. Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 (Faber and Faber 2005), pp.171-2.